STEM Lab 23_24 Round 3

We have had another awesome round in the STEM lab. From storytelling with robots to miniature museums, the students have created outstanding projects. 

Kindergarten & 1st Grade

Our youngest Superstars returned to computer programming this round. This time however, there were no screens involved in their coding. Rather, the students wrote programs for a pair of robots; the perennial favorite, Robo-Mouse, and exciting newcomer, Bee-Bot. Students built mazes of increasing complexity for Robo-Mouse to navigate. With the Bee-Bots, students creates sets and costumes and programmed the robot to act out the main events of a story. 

There is a saying of uncertain origin among computer programmers that goes something like this: the good news about computers is that they do exactly what you tell them to do, the bad news about computers is that they do exactly what you tell them to do. Of all the coding activities I do with students, none evokes the spirit of this aphorism more than this robotics unit. The number of times I have heard some variation of the phrase, "I programmed it right, but it's not working" from the students during robot week is beyond reckoning. However, I do not think any unit in the whole of the STEM Lab curriculum I have created more completely drives home for students the importance of clear, orderly commands when coding than this one. 

2nd Grade

One of the best things about being the STEM lab teacher is the mandate to create learning opportunities that allow students to discover the connections between the different content areas. The Math Stories unit is a favorite of mine for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that thing I miss about being in a regular classroom is getting to teach books on a regular basis. Another one of the reasons is chance to let students play with and explore math concepts which is sadly not a regular part of the standard issue math curriculum. The books I chose for this year's 2nd grade math stories unit were: A Remainder of One, One Hundred Hungry Ants, Grandfather Tang's Story, and Perfect Square. The first 2 titles explore ideas related to multiplication and division while the other two are an opportunity to play with geometry. 

3rd Grade

Third grade also returned to computer programming this round. This was the first half of a two part project that will combine both digital and physical elements. Inspired by my National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship this past summer, students researched an arctic animal, taking notes on its habitat, behaviors, and the challenges it faces. They created a Scratch project to share what they learned from their research using pictures from Britannica and National Geographic to illustrate the facts they included. 

This is the first project that I have the students do in which they use Scratch to create a product with a specific purpose. It is when I teach them to add pictures to their Scratch programs and when they learn about key press events. In the next round they will create a poster about their selected topic and wire it to a Makey Makey that will allow users to control the Scratch project by touching different parts of the poster. When everything is complete they will share their projects with a visiting class and administrators. 

The Scratch projects are in studio that can be viewed here. Please note that some of these are works in progress.

4th Grade

The fourth grade classes wrapped up their biography projects this round and presented their work to visiting 2nd grade classes. Previously the students researched the life and contributions of a chosen historical figure. They had a variety of choices ranging form artists and composers to inventors and scientists. In this round the students put the finishing touches on the Scratch projects they created last time in the lab and built a model of their subject using a plastic bottle, cardboard, and construction paper. At the end of the week they connected their models to their Scratch projects with our old friend Makey Makey and presented their finished products. Not only was I proud of the amazing job the 4th graders did explaining their work to our visitors, but I was so impressed with how the 2nd graders grilled their hosts with questions about the historical figure, the working of the Scratch project, and how the model was constructed. 

5th Grade

The 5th grade also completed the second half of a larger project this round and presented their learning. This project too was inspired by my Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship expedition. Students researched the arctic ecosystem and the issues facing the natural and human communities of the region in the previous round and programmed a digital museum room using Scratch to share what they had learned. In this round they constructed a miniaturized physical version of their digital museum exhibit. The door to this model was wired to a Makey Makey so that opening it triggered the Scratch project to begin narrating the contents of the museum. At the end of the week the students shared their work with visiting first graders and administrators. 

STEM Lab Round 4

Round 4 in the STEM lab has been truly wonderful! The students have done some amazing work and leanred so much. From programming robots to interactive posters to hacked works of art, I could hardly be more proud. Read on for a look at what we have been up to in the lab.

Kindergarten & 1st grade

Robo-Mouse returns! This is always a fun unit to teach in large part because of the excitement of the students. At this point in the year they have had a great deal of experience watching their programs run on a screen. The year started with Code.org coursework and was followed later with Scratch Jr. However, there is a special thrill to seeing one's code run in the physical world as the Robo-mouse moves through the mazes students constructed. 

In Kindergarten we start with a general introduction to handling the robot to keep it safe, and then we do a couple short programming exercises together so we can discuss the differences between this and our screen-based programming tools. Then students work in groups to create a maze for their robot and take turns coding it to the cheese. After this initial exploration time, students are given task cards with mazes to build and then program the mouse to navigate. The task cards describe long mazes requiring more complex programs to complete.

Most of the 1st graders remember using Robo-mouse last year, so we begin with a brief review and some exploration time in order for them to get reacquainted with the device. The rest of the week they work on a series of increasingly challenging task cards. They build the maze and, before getting their hands on a robot, they use the algorithm cards to plan their programs. This gives them the chance to develop their algorithmic thinking and to practice debugging as they identify the place in the program where things went wrong. Each day after they complete the task cards, students are allowed to design their own mazes and they delight in challenging themselves with the most difficult ones they can imagine. 

2nd grade

I have wanted to do a math stories unti with second grade for a while, but was not able to get a hold of the books I wanted to use. Thanks to the support of our awesome PTO, I was finally able to gather the desired books to bring math stories to second grade. Most of the books have a focus on building number sense and on operations like addition and multiplication, but we also touch on geometry. After reading and discussing each day's story, students work together on an activity related to the math found in the book. The activities are generally in the form of a number puzzle or problem solving activity. Students have to share their reasoning both with me and their classmates. I was so impressed by the rich discussions I heard students having with each other as I walked around the room. Our geomtry book, Perfect Square, lent itself to a more artistic project. Students decorated and dismantled a plain white square of paper to create a picture inspired by the story. The primary goal of the unit's activities is showing students that there are a variety of strategies, all equally valid that can result in solutions. 

3rd grade

In round 3 our third graders selected a science topic to research and then created Scratch project to share what they had learned. Round 4 started with an introduction to the Makey Makey I/O board. The name is an amalgam of "make" and "key" and stands for "make a key". It allows us to  use any conductive material to build switches and keys that can communicate with and control our programs. Students practiced setting up the Makey Makey and explored its capabilities with a set of plug and play apps including a piano, audio sampler, and etch-a-sketch drawing program.

Next, students created a poster that complemented their Scratch project. They added metal fasteners and copper foil tape to create touch points for the user to control the program. These were connected to the computer via Makey Makey, here acting as a USB keyboard. The Scratch programs they created use the space and arrow keys as events to run different parts of the code. The Makey Makey is precoded to those keys. Touching the "earth" point and one of the others at the same time closes a circuit that the board reads as a press of that key. The corresponding part ot the Scratch program runs as each point is touched. We wrapped up each week by sharing our work with a visiting first or second grade class. Everyone did a great job presenting! All of the Scratch projects are in this studio.

4th grade

This round was the beginning of a two part project centered on the state parks of Texas. The theme of the fourth grade curriculum is the history and geography of Texas, so this project is a natural tie in. Students explored different sites on the Texas Parks and Wildlife site. They were allowed to select any park that caught their interest to be the subject of their research. I gave them a series of guiding questions to help their notetaking that included identifyinig the region of Texas the their chosen park is in, the history of the park, and the plants and animals that can be found there. After gathering information, the students planned and began programming a digital tour guide for the park using Scratch. The most of the projects are in this studio, but many are works in progress because of the week's other activity. 

The fourth graders also participated in a Skype-a-Scientist meeting during this unit. Skype-a-Scientist has been part of many STEM lab units over the years. They partner classroom teachers with scientists working in a variety of fields. Students have tthe chance to have a conversation about a scientific topic with an expert and to learn about what it is like to work as a scientist. I requested ecologists for this particular round of meetings because one of the things I want to students to investigate about their park is the ecosystem it is a part of. Skype-a-Scientist took 2 days of the unit, one to learn background on ecology and our scientist's particular focus, and one day for the meeting. Each meeting is a bit different, but they are always interesting.

5th grade

This round's fifth grade project is one I have done in a few different iterations in recent years, and I look forward to it. I alternately refer to it as "Interactive Art" or "Hacked Art". Students select a painting from a famous artist from a collection I have put in a Google folder. Students are allowed to suggest a painting that is not one of the ones provided, but I do insist on approving it. The painting gets loaded into Scratch as a background first, and then as a sprite. Using the image tools, students erase all of the painting added as a sprite except for an element that they want to be interactive. They place this element against the background where it blends in. This sprite is coded to react to being clicked. This process is repeated several time until most of the painting has been made interactive. I always love seeing the creative outputs the students imagine into the paintings. Below are two standout projects (it was really hard to choose just 2). Click the green flag and then click the elements of the painting. Sound on to get the full effect. The complete hacked art studio is here. (Until 2/17/2023 the projects at the top of the studio are works in progress.)

Two for One Blog Post - Interactive Posters and Math Stories

The run up to the winter break is is always a busy time. Mine was even busier than usual and the first casualty was my blog posting schedule. So this one will wrap up the work done by the kindergarten, first, and third graders during cycle 2. Then I'll be all ready to go when cycle 3 starts in another week.

Third graders got their first taste of true digital making during this rotation with the interactive posters project. Each class had a different set of research topics to choose from. I try to do this with all of my groups and grade levels. It gives me the chance to see how well various topics work for a particular project. Also, speaking for myself, I like to have some variety in the projects over the course of the unit since I am implementing the same lesson plan 4 times in a row as the classes rotate through the lab. The choices ranged from recycling and energy conservation to birds and fish to objects in our solar system.

Students had the option to work independently or with a partner. They researched their chosen topic and recorded notes in their journals. They then planned a Scratch project to teach about their topic. The plans needed to include backgrounds and sprites they would use, what facts from their research went with each background, and how the sprites would move and talk. I introduced the students to computer programming vocabulary like "event" and "comment". Events are a key part of how their programs for this project operate and commenting one's code is a good habit to get into and one I have been lax in training my students in acquiring. The students also learned how to add pictures from other sources to their Scratch projects. An important part of this is finding pictures that are open source and giving proper attribution in the project notes.

Teams start on the Scratch project together so that both partners are familiar with the basics of its function. After a day or two one partner steps aside and begins work on a poster that complements the Scratch project. When the poster and program are complete, brass fasteners and copper foil tape are added to the poster to create touch points that can be used as key press events to run the various parts of the Scratch program. Turning these conductive materials into "buttons" is achieved by using the Makey Makey input/output board. It is essentially a keyboard connected to the computer via USB without any keys. Wires with alligator clips connect the poster to the Makey Makey which, once plugged into the computer, allows the brass fasteners on the poster to function as key presses when touched.

One of the things I have come to love most about teaching in the STEM lab over the last 5 years is the pure excitement and wonder that students express the first time they try out something made interactive with the Makey Makey.

I wrote a guide to this interactive poster activity that can be found here on Instructables.

Kindergarten and first grade had a unit that centered on math and literacy. Each day we read a story in which some kind of mathematics is involved, different books for each grade level, and then worked on an activity related to the math concept from the book. The books vary a little from one class to the next. Partly that is because of the various interruptions like fire drills and holidays that occur, and partly it is because I do not own a copy of all of the books I would like and have to request them from the public library. Regardless of the books read, the math concepts covered are generally the same. We touch on things like doubling and skip counting. We look at strategies for decomposing and grouping numbers. There is always some measurement and some geometry as well.

I have done some form of this unit for the last few years in the lab and it is always one of my favorites. This unit was born out of my realization that after a couple of year out of the regular classroom I missed teaching literacy, and more specifically books, to my students. My two week units do not allow me to teach novels like I used to, but this unit gives me the chance to read with students again. More importantly, I get to make clear to them the connections between mathematics and literacy that I fear they miss during their classroom reading block.

Morning at the Mini-Museum

This rotation in the STEM Lab has 4th grade working on a project that combines digital and physical elements to make an interactive display. I adapted this activity from one done by a teacher I know in Virginia. (Link to her project guide is below.) I was overly ambitious in my additions for the first group, so some adjustments and refinements were necessary after the first class completed their projects.

On the first day of the unit, students went on a virtual field trip to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The "wandered" around the museum recording observations in their journals regarding the things they saw, how the objects were displayed, and anything else that they found interesting. We followed up with a discussion about what the purpose of a museum is. The students gave several great responses including: "so people can learn and discover things", "so people can see things they have never seen", and "so people can learn about life in the past". That day finished with students brainstorming a list of things they would include if they could design a room in a museum.

The next day, I explained the project to the class. They were to plan a museum room that included 3 objects of their choosing. Each person would build a model of their imagined room using the STEM Lab staples of cardboard, glue, and construction paper. Students would work with a partner to use Scratch to program and digital version of each partner's room that used by key press events to switch between rooms. The rooms are narrated giving at least 2 facts about each object included. Finally, the model museum rooms would be linked via the Makey Makey to the team Scratch project so that when the door to each room is opened, it causes that part of the program to run.

I gave the students a fair bit of leeway in what they added to their museums. This was so that they could include objects representing personal interests and passions. The only requirement was that they be able to give two facts about each object in their rooms. It has been interesting to see what objects the students have included. Some rooms are full of fancy cars or sharks, while others have favorite foods and athletes. The attention to detail that several students added to their physical models. As always, I have been really impressed by how the students helped each other to complete the elements of the project on time. For some, the coding comes more naturally and for others it is the building. I love how they all work together to ensure that everyone's project is finished on time.

I try to mix it up each year in the lab and to not repeat projects too often, but I am loving this one so far and can it it becoming a regular part of the lab curriculum.

The guide by Kathleen Fugle is here: Tiny Museum on Instructables.

The gallery of our projects is here (more added soon): Mini-Museum rooms.

Starting with Scratch

It has been a great first rotation in the lab! So much amazing making and learning is happening, and I will write about it all in due course over the next several weeks as new classes pass through the lab.

I want to start with the third graders for this post. Third grade begins each year by being introduced to the Scratch programming language and the associated online community. Students do finish their second grade year at Sinclair with a taster course in Scratch, but this is their first exposure to how the upper grades in the lab function.

We start with a lesson on proper digital etiquette with some videos and class discussions. The students learn about their digital footprints, and how to leave appropriate comments. Cyberbullying is also discussed. Students take notes in their journals to use later when they plan their final projects.

Before students are presented with their Scratch login credentials, we do a brief tour of the online community. We go over how to share and unshare projects, how to complete the project page, how to leave comments, and how to report bad behavior. That done, the students login an have some time to explore and create in their accounts. Over the course of the unit, I do give some direct instruction on how to use certain coding structures, but I also provide the students time to experiment. Problem solving is part of the learning process so rather than just tell students how to do everything, I am more likely to ask them guiding questions to help them move in the right direction.

Students worked independently or with a partner to plan a project that would share at least 2 dos and 2 don'ts of digital etiquette and online behavior. They made organizers in their journals showing the behaviors and the reasons why that behavior is acceptable or not. They also sketched the look of their project and the sprites they intended to use. Students had several days to work on the creation of their projects. I met with each individual/group to discuss their progress and offer feedback. As students finished their projects they learned how to add them to a class studio where their work could be viewed about the whole class. I left comments for each project and students practiced their digital etiquette by leaving helpful comments for each other.

This is is one of my favorite units each year just because of the unalloyed excitement of the students. Those who have been at Sinclair for a while have visited the lab to see projects created by older students using Scratch. This unit makes them feel like "the big kids" and they are overjoyed about it. For me, I am most excited about the endless array of possibilities Scratch opens up for the students. Scratch Jr. is wonderful tool, but Scratch has a far greater number of programming tools with which students can create. They can compose music, draw pictures, connect with hardware, and work with data structures like variables and lists. I cannot wait to see what these students will create this year as their skills grow!

Here's the studio where all of the projects are posted.

History, Language Arts, Programming, and Making: Cross-Curricular Candescence in Grades 4 and 5

The first cycle of the year is officially behind us, so it is time to detail the learning adventures our 4th and 5th grade students undertook this time around in the lab.

The 5th graders had a project that is something of an extension of the interactive posters the 3rd grade worked on. Students had their choice of several historical figures to research. Each group had a somewhat different set of people. There was some overlap, but each list was more different that it was similar. I wanted to have a variety of topics, and students, when given a choice of topics like this, tend to latch on to the names they have heard before. They used a variety of sources to gather information including BrainPop and Worldbook Online.

Once they had conducted their research, students set to work creating a Scratch project that shared details about the lives and contributions of their selected topics. Their programs were required to have a minimum of 5 key press events in order to make the final product interactive. They were also required to include at least one image of their person.

The final piece of this project was to transform an old soda bottle (or other ) cylindrical container into a model of their chosen historical figure. They were to make every effort to match the clothing of the time period in which their subject lived. That proved to be an interesting challenge as students tried to make Victorian dresses for Ada Lovelace and aviator goggles for Amelia Earhart with construction paper. These models were then placed on a stand, or in some cases fitted with buttons directly and connected to the Scratch program with a Makey Makey (an input/output device similar to a keyboard, but with conductive pads instead of keys).

I am really pleased with how well most of these projects turned out. The students created a number of clever programs and models to share their work. It is always wonderful to see students take a project in a completely unexpected direction. The Scratch projects are collected in this studio.

As for the 4th graders, they took a big step forward with their Scratch programming skills and learned how to use lists and variables in new ways. In a computer program, a variable is a single value that can change while the program is running. Examples of variables include a player's score, number lives, and timers. A list on the other hand stores several pieces of information, as the name implies. A program might have lists for questions and answers, or one to track the highest scores.


The first program the students worked on was a random compliment generator. They created a list of kind adjectives and another list of animals. First, the program had to ask the user for their name and store it as a variable. Then it replied with the user's name and a compliment created by joining a random adjective and a random noun from the two lists and joining those elements with the rest of the sentence. For example: "Quentin, your are a shiny unicorn!" They learned a number of things about sentence structure and that computers do not know when you want a space between words and when you don't. Some students even added a second list of adjectives for for fulsome compliments.


The second program pushed the classes' knowledge of parts of speech and sentence structure to the limit. They coded a mad lib. They began by writing a 4 sentence story and then selecting the words that would be replaced by user input. The program asked the user for those words based on the part of speech and stored them in a list. Then the program inserted the user's words into the story the programmer wrote. It took a great deal of trail and error and no small amount of problem solving to get the words placed correctly with proper spacing and punctuation. It was a huge challenge and the students were rightfully proud of themselves when they finally got everything functioning as intended.

Here is the studio where the projects are collected.

Makey Makey That Poster Interactive!

The first grading cycle of the year is nearly over, and I find myself a little bit behind on my blog posting schedule. I will do my best to get caught up and to stay on track starting now.

The third graders started the year by "graduating" to the full version of the Scratch programming language. Student who were at Sinclair for second grade got an introduction to Scratch at the end of last year. They only used the offline version and so were not able to share projects or interact with the Scratch online community. So before they began their projects for this unit, they logged into Scratch for the first time. That was after a thorough discussion of the responsibilities of being a member of an online community and correct digital etiquette.

That done, students got to work on the actual project. Students selected a topic to research. Each class had different topic choices in order to have a greater diversity of projects. They used BrainPop and Britannica School to gather information on their chosen subjects and took notes in their journals. The next step involved planning and programming a Scratch project to share their learning. Their programs were required to utilize key press events to run different scripts to share information. I also showed them how to import images to Scratch that were downloaded from the online encyclopedia, and how to cite their work.

Once the programs were finished, students moved on to creating a poster that complemented their programming project. The poster designs were entirely up to the students, and it was interesting to see the choices they made about what information to highlight.

The final step of this project is to make the project interactive. This is done by adding brass fasteners as "buttons" and using copper foil tape as wires. We use a device called a Makey Makey to connect the poster to the Scratch program. It is an input/output board (sort of like a keyboard). The board interprets contact with the buttons as key presses triggering the scripts in the program. So as users touch different points on the poster, different elements of the program run on screen.

Projects like these that use Scratch as a means for students to share their learning are an essential element of the Sinclair STEM Lab program. One of my goals is that students learn to use computer programming to complete tasks, as a tool for doing work as well as for personal expression. Only a small fraction of the students who pass through the lab are likely to become computer programmers or software engineers. But every student that spends time in the Sinclair STEM Lab leaves knowing that computer programming is something that they CAN do, even if they choose not to.

Come Fly With Us

The fourth grade project for this final rotation is out of this world! Students were challenged to create an advertisement for a vacation to one of the natural objects in our solar system. To ensure that I did not end up with nothing but projects about Uranus (ha ha), I created a topic randomizer in Scratch with 3 lists, the planets that are not Earth, moons that are not the Moon, and dwarf planets. When students pressed the switch, they were presented with 3 objects to choose from. 

First came the research. Students gathered basic data about their object like size, distance from the Sun, composition, and temperatures. While researching the basic information, they were also on the lookout for interesting facts and sights one might see there. They had to think about how they could use all of that information to to persuade their audience to choose their object for a vacation. I did not assign any particular product, so long as it was persuasive. I did give them some ideas and reminded them of projects they have done in the past. 

The most challenging part seemed to be need to be persuasive. As the groups and individuals worked, many needed to be reminded that they were not making a presentation to teach about their object. While some groups took to the idea of selling a trip into space easily, the majority needed some coaching in order to turn their raw information in to arguments in favor of making a trip. Another struggle for some students was making sure that their product was interesting to look at and that it could hold the viewer's attention. 

The freedom of choice I allowed in terms of work product yielded, for the most part, excellent results. There were dioramas showing the view from the surface, interactive posters leading virtual tours, a few wonderful skits, some excellent Scratch animations, and one that used a Lego tilt sensor and Scratch. 

This project is adapted from one I did with my class when I was teaching 3rd grade. Sadly, in the lab I do not have time to do the other part of that project with each class, learn to sing "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.

Teaching Environmental Protection

Third grade's final project of the year centers on the environment, specifically what students can do to help keep it clean. They then had to develop a way to teach what they had learned to others, specifically regarding how, say a first grader, could contribute to solving the problem. I allowed them to have a bit of choice in their product selection. These choices included an interactive poster, a game (digital or physical), or a skit/song.


We started with a discussion of what exactly is meant by pollution and what problems it causes. This was also to outline the difference between solutions and practises available to all people (even students), and those that are for adults and businesses. In one class, the suggestion was made to buy electric cars, which I had to point out was probably beyond the ability of most elementary school students.

Some students worked on their own, but most worked with a partner. They took notes in a T-chart with "problem" on one side and "solution" on the other. As they conducted their research, I number of excellent questions came up. These included, how air pollution becomes water pollution, how plastic gets recycled, and which of the three R's is the best one to do. All of these questions gave the students the chance to dig deeper into the information to find the reasons why they should carry an reusable water bottle or pass on the straw at a restaurant.

The students created, as usual, a number of awesome projects. When the end of the unit came along, each group got to share their work with a visiting first grade class and receive feedback from other students. They reflected in their journals and in a Google form about their work and how it could be improved for future iterations.

My Favorite Project Was...

The Year of Exciting Houston Weather continued with 2 unexpected days off for ice and snow. I am kind of hoping that we are done with interesting weather for the year.

At this point, I am two and a half years into the project of creating the Sinclair STEM Lab. Over the course of that time, I have been teaching a lot of what might be termed "tool use". That is, students learn how to use technologies like Scratch, Makey Makey, Micro:bit, and Raspberry Pi by completing a series of set tasks. I have also worked on teaching a number of skills like how to follow a design process and how to use reclaimed/repurposed materials to create products. The units that have centered on these and other tools and skills have been sort of, but not very, open-ended. Students have had some creative freedom, but in the end they were all making variations on the same theme, be it a Scratch quiz, cardboard arcade game, or interactive poster. My goal however, has always been to get students to the point where, for each project, they select the tools and techniques best suited to how they want to present their learning, which brings us to the current unit in 5th grade.

This is the most open-ended project I have tried in the lab and I decided to implement it with the 5th grade first because they have the most experience using the widest variety of tools. Also, they will all have gone on to middle school next year so I can adjust the unit plan as needed and roll it out with next year's classes and it will be new to them. I began by asking them to reflect in their journals about their all time favorite school project, not just from the lab, but throughout their school careers, and to say why it is their favorite. After a few minutes I shared about my favorite project from high school microbiology. (We each received a culture of an unknown bacteria and had to use all the skills we had learned to identify our mystery germ. Thank you Mr. Rohn!) Several students then shared their reflections which included projects from every content area and ranged from kindergarten to 5th grade. As to why that particular project was their favorite, every student said that it was because it appealed to a particular interest of theirs and because they were able to make or do something that was personally relevant. 

Following that discussion, I outlined the project. Students would choose an ancient civilization from a provided list to research with a focus on the artifacts of that culture. They would then follow the design process to generate ideas for a work product that they would use to teach an invited 3rd grade class about their chosen topic. I reviewed some of the tools, skills, and technologies that they were familiar with from their time in the lab, but I made it clear that they could create whatever they wanted to so long as it served the purpose of teaching others about their research topic. Students were allowed to work independently or in teams of up to three. As students began gathering information and brainstorming presentation pieces I was bombarded by questions that all began: "Can we make a...?". I expected this as it is very much like to questions I got when the STEM lab was new and students not yet comfortable with the idea that their work product looked different from all of the others. This project represents another step towards the goal of greater creative confidence. This is the first project that I know of them completing where each product could be of an entirely different sort.

Only one of the four 5th grade classes have come through the lab at this point, so it is a small sample, but so far this unit has been a success. First, the projects by and large turned out quite well and when the groups presented their work to the visiting 3rd graders, they were genuinely excited to share what they had learned and made. Second, there is the information from the Google reflection form they completed at the end of the unit. One question asks what they would have me change about the unit and most said "nothing" with several adding that it was "good", "great", or they "really liked it". Another reflection item asked them to rate their performance from 1 to 5, with 5 as the best. I always include this to encourage them to think critically about their work. usually the bulk of each class rates their work as a 3 or 4. For this unit however, 75% of the class rated their work as a 4 or 5. As I said, it is a small sample, but I am now very interested to see if this continues, increased creative freedom leading to increased student satisfaction with their own work. 

I am so excited to see what students in the other groups create! Check out the album for this project here. I will continue to add photos throughout the unit.

Wrapping Up 2017, Looking Ahead to 2018

Happy 2018! I hope everyone is having a wonderful break. It has been great to have time to relax with friends and family, and hopefully you have been able to do the same. With all of the awesome things going on at the end of the year, my blogging fell by the wayside. Now it is time to get back on track!

During the second magnet rotation, the third grade took a bit of time to continue building their programming skills with Scratch. They were introduced to the Makey Makey input/output board. This device allows one to use conductive materials like Play Doh, paperclips, and even classmates as inputs for their programs.

Their main project however was to design, build, and present a tabletop cardboard arcade game. This project was inspired by Caine's Arcade, the wonderful story of a 9 year old boy who created his own arcade with cardboard boxes in front of his father's auto parts shop. Students worked in teams of 2 or 3 and started by brainstorming ideas for games and designs. From there they began building, testing, and improving. Many groups discovered that getting a game that has just the right amount of challenge was not as easy as they thought it would be. A great many groups learned that masking tape is not always the best choice for joining two pieces of cardboard. My personal favorite part of this project is watching students work through the design process on a personally meaningful project. each group is authentically invested in their game. That was evident at the conclusion of each unit when a first grade class (along with the administrative team) visited the lab to try the games. Students were so excited to talk about their work and have others try out their games. 

The 2nd grade classes spent this rotation working on a series of design challenges using a variety of materials. My focus for this unit was on the elements of the design cycle and on having students record their work in their journals. Each day they were assigned a particular task, build a bridge to span a distance with craft sticks, build an animal in its habitat with Legos. Some of these challenges were independent, while some involved teamwork. Some were deliberately quite advanced because I wanted to be able to teach students about the lessons of failure and the importance of perseverance. 

Kindergarten and first grade completed a unit of math stories. Each class started with a read aloud book and discussion. The books selected included "How Big is a Foot?", "Inch by Inch", "Two of Everything", and "The Greedy Triangle", just to name a few. Each book illustrates a particular math skill or concept which we discussed and connected to our classroom work. Following the reading, students worked on a project which allowed them to work with the math that played a part in the story. Students made input/output tables to show doubling, built pictures with different polygons, and measured the dimensions of birds that they drew. I personally enjoyed this unit because I love to emphasize to students the connection between math, science, and literacy.

Looking ahead to the 3rd magnet rotation starting next week (Yikes! Yay!), Kindergarten and first grade will be participating in a robotics unit. Second grade will be working on a research project, while 3rd grade will be introduced to the BBC Micro:bit board. The 4th graders will be working with electrical circuits. To start, they will use batteries and LEDs, but they will finish the unit with building programmable circuits using the Raspberry Pi computers. The fifth grade will be working on a history-based research project that will include interactive displays.

Check back in a few weeks to see how things are going. You are sure to be impressed with the amazing things the students make.